


Trapped in a Corn Maze with Captain America

by Hello_fandoms



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Panic Attacks, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:46:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27790240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello_fandoms/pseuds/Hello_fandoms
Summary: Yes, you read that title right.Not long after the Battle of New York, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are sent out on a mission together. They successfully beat their foes, only to crash land in the middle of a corn maze. As Tony builds a communication device, they walk around, looking for a way out of this mess they had gotten themselves into. Things happen - some good, some bad. They never really did talk about what was said on the hellicarrier, did they? Maybe it's time they did.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Kudos: 21





	Trapped in a Corn Maze with Captain America

**Author's Note:**

> I made this a little while back, but I thought it was good enough to post here. Please forgive me for any spelling errors and I hope you all enjoy.

Tony Stark never would have thought himself to ever be in this predicament. 

Well, no, scratch that. There was the incident back in 2002 that did not bode well for him. He somehow woke up in a hay field and then the most atrocious thing happened- he shook his head to clear his thoughts, ignoring the look from the blonde super soldier walking beside him. 

Somehow, the infamous Tony Stark and Steve Rogers had ended up trapped in a corn maze in the middle of nowhere. It was nearing late fall and there was barely any corn still on the stalks, if any, but the pathways had been well maintained. At least until the suit crashed into the direct middle of it, one thruster on fire and everything else shorting out, not to mention a ninety year old Captain America on his back. That hadn't made landing any easier. 

At least his teamate had jumped off before they hit the ground. Tony did not have such a luxury, skidding into the field and knocking down a few yards worth of plants. The ground and suit were both still smoking from the landing, stalks laying down or bent and dirt plowed up. Steve had to help him get out of the suit, hitting the manual releases as the wiring crackled and popped, the suit now a deadweight on his body that was more dangerous than protective. 

He hated to leave the suit alone, but Steve had insisted they started walking. Tony really didn't want to, considering the sun was nearly down and he was exhausted, but SHIELD might not realize they were gone for a while. Both of their phones had been broken in the crash, so Tony was now taking them apart piece by piece in his hands as they walked aimlessly. 

Again, Tony wondered how this was his life. How a simple mission (finished successfully, might he had. The small pack of Doom Robots were no more) had ended them up in a summer corn maze. All Tony wanted was to go back to his lab. Why did the universe hate him so much?

The universe definetly hated him, considering it was Steve he was stuck with. He and the Captain had yet to get along in the four months since the battle of New York, three of which where they lived under the same roof. 

He had never missed Jarvis so much. At least then he would have his amazing AI son to talk to. But even his earpiece was fried. 

"You can scout ahead, Cap," Tony said with a dismissive shrug, noticing how the guy was walking at an abnormally slow pace, slow for him anyway, to stay beside the engineer. "Ten feet ahead won't cause you to lose me. I'm not a child." 

"Well, you act like one." 

The genius gave an indignant squeak/yelp that was definetly manly. The only thing he got out of it was Rogers shaking his head, face blank yet Tony still thought he saw his lips quirk up. In truth, Tony was glad for this banter. It was similar to the banter he had with the rest of the team, but different. It was a rarity for him to joke with Captain America and have him joke back. 

That was mainly because they had this huge elephant between them, preventing their friendship bridge to complete. The supports of it were unsteady, the elephant weighing heavy on connected ropes that relied on their banter. The ropes strained when they were arguing, threatening to break. 

Tony knew exactly what the elephant was. Their conversation on the helicarrier when they first met still played in Tony's head at night sometimes. When it was dark and Pepper wasn't there. He would think about the things said on both sides, regret his own words and flinch away from Steve's. Even in the comfort of his lab, the words still haunted his brain, bringing up his fears and anxieties. 

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off and what are you?"

What was he without the suit? He had no fighting skills besides the boxing he had done with Happy. What other fight experience did he have? None. Just dumb luck. He had some quick witt, but that got him into more trouble with his enemies than he would like to admit. 

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." 

Oh why had he said playboy? He was trying to put that moniker behind him, just like he tried to bury 'The Merchant of Death.' Either way, both titles clawed their way up from whatever hole they tried to bury them in, throwing themselves in his face and attacking him with full force. Most notably in the form of vicious reporters and interviews, discreetly thrown barbs or just outright questions. He would always put on a smile or change the topic as smoothly as possible, but he would never admit that the words hurt him. 

He had a million masks, but the shields he out up around himself would never be thick enough to protect him from his own thoughts. His own demons. Because they were already inside his defenses, in his head. He didn't need anyone reminding him. 

"You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers." He'd said, filled with a harsh venom that he never knew existed in him. And maybe it hadn't. Maybe it had been the salt from his childhood of his dad always worshiping the man and comparing Tony to him. Maybe that salt was amplified by the scepter into something entirely different. Rage. "Everything special about you came out of a bottle." 

He regretted his words. He regretted them as soon as they came out of his mouth. But there was no way to take back words, he'd tried, there was only redeeming yourself to the person you hurt. 

Tony had never been good with feelings. He'd never been good with talking about how he felt with someone. Never had. The only person he would talk to about his feelings was Pepper, his sweet, amazing, independent, caring, brave Pepper. 

So he tried to make up for his words in his own way. He made the Captain a new suit that looked like his old one with a built in parachute, heater, pockets, more comfortable and flexible fabric, electricity absorbent, and retractable gloves that allowed him to grip things more easily. Steve had thanked him profusely, but Tony didn't think he got the sentiment that it was an apology, which one on the genius himself. He could have at least slapped a sticky note on it, saying: I'm sorry. 

Now his only resort besides hiding in his lab was doing what Pepper encouraged him to do after learning of their argument: talk to him. Tony thought he would rather swallow a nail than do that. Sitting down and talking with Captsin America about how he felt? Almost an impossible thought. Almost. 

Believe it or not, he wanted to have a friendship with Boy Wonder. He wanted to be able to jest and not worry Steve would take it too seriously. He wanted to be able to call him by his first name outside of battle. He wanted to be able to spend time with him that wasn't required and wouldn't cause a static tension to fill the air. 

He wanted that, he just didn't know if the other man wanted it. 

"Stark!" 

His head snapped up from where he had been vacantly staring at the pieces of phone he was messing with, wires cascading over fingers and his palms holding the skeletal remains of what used to be two Starkphones. The annoyance in the captain's voice indicated that he had called his name more than once. 

"Yes, cappy?" He responded, pulling himself back to the present, "you said something?" He probably shouldn't have used the nickname, but it was already out of his mouth now. Rogers raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing at the name. 

"I've been asking when you will have one of the phones ready." 

The genius hummed. "Well, the parts are mostly fried, but what I can salvage should be able to transmit a GPS signal with a frequency SHIELD will notice, especially since it will come from a corn field. I'll be finished in maybe an hour, possibly two." He pulled a bobby pin from his pocket to use as a makeshift tool. "Jarvis will tell them what happened, but our last known location is a couple miles out. This will just make it easier for them to find us."

Rogers nodded his understanding and turned back to face forward. Tony turned his attention back to the parts in his hands. He placed what he couldn't use into his left pocket to focus on what he could use. While looking down, he hadn't realized he was walking straight into a turn of the corn maze. 

"Be careful," the Captain said, tugging him by the shoulder out of the corn stocks that had filled his vision. 

"Thanks," Tony said, tone slightly clipped with embarrassment. They continued, the engineer paying more mind to where he was going by keeping Rogers feet in his peripheral vision. The soldier had moved in front of him, possibly scouting ahead a little. The only sounds were their footsteps against the packed dirt and the crickets. 

Another sound cut through the air. "Gah!" Tony looked over to see that Captain America had just ran into a scarecrow, wide eyed. He dropped into a fighting stance before realizing what it was. His face morphed into an expression of both embarrassment and frustration, most likely at himself. Tony outright cackled, which earned him a glare that he could almost describe as playful.

After a full five minutes of Tony trying to not fall on the ground in a full belly laugh, they continued on, the brunette sometimes chuckling at random times. Man, he wished he had a picture. 

They were another half hour into their walking when Tony realized it was getting harder to see what he was doing with the parts. He looked up and saw that the sky, which had previously been colored with pinks, purples, oranges, and blues of sunset, was now dark with little pinpricks of light. The stars. Stars he rarely saw with the lights of the city drowning them out. He jerked his head back down to look at the little pieces of tech in his hands, focusing on them instead. It was so dark he could hardly see them. 

He reached up and unzipped his black jacket without a thought. The fall cold was making the tips of his fingers numb and now he was allowing it to sneak past his jacket that encased his body heat. Without the jacket, the Arc Reactor casted a pale blue glow ahead of him, effectively illuminating his hand. He glanced up to see if Rogers had noticed the new source of light, but he found the super soldier nowhere to be seen. 

"Cap," he called out, careful to avoid the sky and those stupid stars. He once again questioned how his life got to this point as he stuffed the bobby pin and gears in his right pocket, separate from the faulty ones, and started to jog through the maze, taking turns randomly. It probably wasn't the best idea, but with his nightmares above him and the thought of being alone in the dark he was panicking just a teensy tiny bit. 

Okay, a lot. 

"Cap!"

"Stark!"

"Where are you?" He spun around, but the captain's voice seemed to echo off every plant. "I know I told you that you could scout ahead, but only ten feet! This is clearly not ten feet!" 

"Hang on, stay where you are. I'll find you." His tone was calming. Maybe a bit of Tony panic was seeping into his voice and he didn't realize. He thought he hid it well. His feet stalled in their tracks and he pulled in a few breaths of air, trying to calm himself. It didn't work. 

He heard the sound of a bird cawing and his head snapping toward the sky instinctually, body on high alert as if he were doing battle.

It was a mistake to look.

His eyes locked on the stars above and this time he could not tear his gaze away. He was trapped, the vastness of space making him feel small and weak. His chest constricted and cold flooded from his heart to his veins. He tried to draw in a breath, only to find he couldn't. He couldn't breathe. His heart was thudding in his ears and everything was going fuzzy except for the stars. The beautiful, yet so, so terrifying stars. 

A portal opened up in the sky and he was flying. He could almost feel the heat and weight of the nuke agaisnt his armoured back. 

"Stark!" 

His body was cold, stiff and still like it had been after flying the nuke into the portal. Heavy, but weightless in the vacuum of space. The New York air was stolen from his lungs. 

"Tony! Where are you?" 

The crackling sound of communications breaking apart reached his ears. The hud lights going dark and Pepper's face flickering out of existence. 

"Tony?" 

He hadn't even gotten to tell her how much he loved her. 

The stars were suddenly blocked from his vision by a blurry, blonde man he vaguely recognized in his panic. Steve Rogers. "Focus on me, Tony," his voice was louder than it had been before. The engineer latched onto it, grounding himself. The portal that had been behind Steve's head was no more, but his vision was still fuzzy. 

"You need to breathe." 

Tony could only shake his head frantically, mouth dry and head pounding. His chest was so heavy and the cold still constricted his lungs. 

"I know it feels like you can't, but you can. In for five, hold for three, out for the five. I'll count," his voice was calm, only further grounding Tony. He no longer felt like he was floating in emptiness, feeling solid ground beneath his feet. The other man's voice was like a lifeline. 

Then Steve started counting and Tony found himself following the directions he'd given. His head was clearing with each breath he pushed into his lungs, breathing getting easier and easier as the memories were chased away. He could now see his teamate more clearly, illuminated blue by the reactor. His blonde hair was shaggy and out of place with just a hint of sweat at his temples, uniform a tad dirty and rumbled. To his right, Tony saw that a portion of the corn maze had been knocked down, roots tore clean up and stalks bent. 

Realizing what had just happened, what Steve had just witnessed happen to him, Tony scrambled back a few steps, feeling humiliated that he had let the stars get to him. So, he started talking.

"Now I'm going to have to pay even more to the farmer for damage. Not that I can't cover it, but think about the work he's going to have to do to fix what we broke. I mean, I broke more than you did, but still-"

"Tony," Steve voice was quiet, but firm and caring in a way that made Tony shut up. In that one word, he knew that it was okay. Steve wasn't going to judge him for this. 

"We all have our triggers, our fears. I understand you probably don't want to talk about it, but I'm here if you want to," the blonde said. Tony found himself smiling a little, stepping forward again. The soldier continued, "how about we go sit down? There's no use in continuing unless we want to break a path through everything." 

That's how they ended up sitting in a corner, Tony finishing the GPS signal and Steve polishing his precious shield with his sleeve. "All done," the engineer said as a little green light lit up, confirming the signal had been sent out and was still going out in a steady stream. "They should find us soon." 

"Good job, Tony," he praised. The engineer turned his head away to hide his grin at being praised by his childhood idol. "Thanks. Wait a sec, does this mean I can call you Steve?"

Steve blinked. "You don't need my permission to call me Steve. Why would you ask?" 

"I dunno... I guess because you kept calling me 'Stark' a lot of the time. I... I didn't think we were on that friendship level yet," he shrugged. A thought then occured to him, and his smile dropped and his eyebrows furrowed.

"I think we need to talk," the brunette said, shifting a little and folding his hands in his lap to to try and keep them from figiting so much.

Steve bit his lip, then nodded. "I think we do, too. The helicarrier argument..." he faltered, a look of guilt flashing across his face. "I shouldn't have said those things to you. I know the septer was amplifying our feelings, but I shouldn't have insulted you like that. You aren't just a man in a suit. You created the suit. The suit would be nothing without you. You keep proving me wrong everyday, like what you just did with two nearly completely fried phones." 

"To be fair, they were Starkphones with a lot of parts-"

The other man held up a hand. "Don't discredit yourself, Tony. What you can do with your brain is amazing and you should be proud of yourself. Everything I said was wrong, you showed that to me not six hours later that you would do the sacrifice play. I'm sorry for what I said and I hope you can forgive me."

Tony smiled at him. "Apology accepted. You are forgiven." He took a breath. "Now I'm going to say my own piece."

"You don't have to-"

"No, I really do," he said. "I owe you an apology. Yes, you were a sickly, scrawny kid before the serum, but you always stood up for what was right. Even when you were outnumbered, you fought back. You aren't just what came out of a bottle, what came out of a lab. The serum worked because of the heart and bravery you had long before it." 

He glanced down at the ground, trying to figure out what to say next. Emotions were definetly not his thing. "You're brave, strong, resilient, caring, and a leader. You were all those things before the serum and you are all those things now. The serum changed nothing besides give you instant abs. I'm sorry for what I said and I, too, hope you can forgive me." 

Steve smiled. "I accept your apology and forgive you." The blonde held out his arms and Tony realized he was offering him a hug. After a short moment of contemplation, he thought 'what the heck' and hugged him back. 

When they pulled apart, the genius asked, "so does this mean we're friends now? Do we have to braid each other's hair and have slumber parties?" And just like that, the emotional atmosphere was broken and they both laughed aloud. 

"I doubt your hair would be long enough to braid," Steve said. 

"Hey! Yours is even shorter!"

"Doesn't make yours any longer than it is now," he shot back. Tony barked out a laugh. 

And as the new helicarrier came into view after the old one had been destroyed four months ago, Steve said, "I'm sorry I challenged you to a fight, too."

"It's alright... I would have totally won, though."

"You wouldn't have."

"You want to spar right now, grandpa?"

"You seem to forget you are physically older than me." 

Tony squawked in protest, defending his age adamantly while Steve laughed. They both climbed onto the ramp that had lowered, Director Fury standing at the top. 

Safe to say, the man was fairly surprised to see the two joking around like old friends, but not at all displeased. 

From then, their friendship bridge had quickly built itself, no pesky elephant blocking the way. The last nail was hammered in, firm a strong. The bridge would be put to the test, strained and hit with the trials they would face, but in the end, everything would be okay.


End file.
